The Sesquicentennial hereabouts–years 1 and 2

We have completed planning for years 1 and 2 and have posted the schedule over at our 150th site, which you can find here. Highlights include:

Two “Years of Anguish” programs featuring (on November 12, 2011 at Dodd Auditorium, UMW) Gary Gallagher and Peter Carmichael on Virginia Goes to War and (on April 21, 2012) David Blight and Thavolia Glymph on Emancipation and Freedom. These programs will follow the formula we established last November, looking at the National, Regional, and Local perspectives.

The Fisk Jubilee Singers will be here on April 14, 2012, to kick off “To Freedom,” the commemoration of the crossing of 10,000 slaves to freedom in 1862.

The next event is on May 7, 2011–“Letters and Diaries, Songs and Passages”, a day-long series of tours, events and music, culminating with a musical performance with meaning by the Chamber Chorale of Fredericksburg at the Baptist Church. This program will be akin to one of our popular “Voices from the Storm” programs, with narration and quotes going along with the music. It promises to be powerful. Find out about it (and buy tickets) here.

I will also be doing walking tours that day of the homes of Fredericksburg diarists and memoirists. They leave Market Square at 10 and 2.

In June we will be doing our first milestone event, marking Virginia’s mobilization for war. “Into the Abyss” will be based at Chatham the weekend of June 10-12. You can find out more on the park’s webpage here (scroll down to June 10).

The Fredericksburg Area Museum, National Park Service, and the University of Mary Washington are the primary funding sources for these events.